State Board of Education Topic Summary s9

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION – TOPIC SUMMARY Topic: Oregon Workforce Investment Board Report Date: October 20, 2011 Staff/Office: Greg White, OWIB Executive Staff Action Requested: Informational Only Adoption Later Adoption Adoption/Consent Agenda

ISSUE BEFORE THE BOARD: Quarterly Oregon Workforce Investment Board Meeting Report

BACKGROUND: Presented quarterly after each OWIB meeting. This month’s report is for the September 23, 2011 meeting.

Quarterly Oregon Workforce Investment Board Meeting Report

New Member The OWIB has one new legislative member, Representative Michael Dembrow, appointed by House leadership to fill the post previously held by Representative Terry Beyer.

Tour of WorkSource Oregon Center The OWIB met at the Tualatin WorkSource Center, and the first agenda item was a tour of the center. Members were introduced to various areas within the center and to WSO staff carrying out various functions, including employer interview rooms, employer services, job order processing, special employer events (Wilsonville Fred Meyer hiring and job fairs), training coordination, the WSO welcome process, resource room and computer lab. Many members asked questions during the tour.

The tour was followed by a question and answer session with WorkSource Oregon (WSO) staff, representatives from WorkSystems, Inc. and the Oregon Employment Department. Members were impressed with the depth and sophistication of service provided, something not understood by the general public. They also noted the high level of personal assistance provided to job seeker customers. They appreciated looking at the whole picture of getting people employed. Several members commented on the effectiveness of services provided to employers, such as the recent successful assistance in staffing the new Wilsonville Fred Meyer.

Recommendations for Updating the OWIB Strategic Plan The OWIB has been engaged in a months-long process of updating its strategic plan, Winning in the Global Market. The project has two phases: first, evaluating the successes and gaps of the current plan, and second, actually updating the plan. The presentation at this OWIB meeting marked the end of the first phase.

The members had reviewed and commented on an earlier document that was the ‘report card” of the current plan. For this meeting, they had had an opportunity to review the draft recommendations, titled Gap Analysis and Recommendations for Improving Winning in the Global Market (attached). OWIB Chair Dave Williams and Strategic Planning Committee Chair Rosie Pryor presented the nine recommendations detailed in the document to the Board. The recommendations include calling for:  Assuring strong leadership from the Governor,  Developing a strategic-level plan that supports the connections between workforce development, economic development, and education,  Partnering with key stakeholder initiatives such as the Oregon Business Plan, the new Education Investment Board, the Governor’s ten-year strategic plan for the state, and work done by other related boards such as the State Board of Education and the Oregon Business Development Commission,  Focusing on a few key achievable initiatives and result areas,  Creating a defined process for communicating and updating the plan,  Charging the Workforce Policy Cabinet with developing a detailed implementation plan with clear dashboard metrics and clarity about roles and responsibilities for achieving success, and  Creating a funding and investment strategy for achieving the outcomes in the plan beyond program activity.